photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Downtown Lawrence's Liberty Hall is pictured on Aug. 19, 2021.

Updated at 5:33 p.m. Thursday

Concert-goers at downtown Lawrence’s Liberty Hall now will need to show proof of vaccination before they can enter the live music venue.

The longtime downtown business at 644 Massachusetts St. made the announcement on its social media page Wednesday night, and I confirmed the news with management there on Thursday. Liberty Hall appears to be the first major business in Lawrence that has adopted a proof-of-vaccination policy for people to enter. General Manager Dean Edington told me the decision was easy to make at one level.

“It was easy in the sense that I care about the health of our community and staff, and I want to continue on with live music,” Edington said. “Incredibly difficult logistically, though.”

Concert-goers will show their proof-of-vaccination card that they were given when they completed their vaccination program, or they can take a picture of it and have it on their phones to show front-door attendants. Edington said staff would check the ID of every attendee to ensure it matches the vaccination card. That could add time to the process it takes for everybody to enter Liberty Hall. The policy begins with Liberty Hall’s next concert on Sunday.

“Maybe put a plug in for people to show up early,” Edington said, recommending people arrive about an hour before showtime.

The company does have a refund policy for people who bought tickets before the policy was announced. Edington said he’s given a “handful” of refunds since the announcement last night. He also said Liberty Hall had gotten a few one-star Google reviews on Thursday, which he assumed was a blowback from the announcement. But he also said the online complaints seemed to be from “complaint factories” rather than actual people who had purchased tickets.

When I chatted with Edington Thursday afternoon, he didn’t have any regrets on the decision, and offered advice to other businesses that may be thinking about creating a proof-of-vaccination policy.

“Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Think of your people. Businesses don’t get to stay open without healthy staff and healthy patrons.”

Liberty Hall also operates a movie theater in its historic downtown building. Genelle Denneny, office manager for Liberty Hall, said the proof-of-vaccination requirement was not currently in place for people who attend a movie. She said attendance at the theater has been lighter, and the venue is able to adequately space people apart during movies.

That’s a much more difficult prospect with live music crowds. Edington said Liberty Hall has a capacity of just more than 1,000 people for some events. Edington said some bands had inquired about whether the venue could have such a vaccination policy, and he said he’s been working on the idea for more than a month. He said he didn’t know if other music venues would follow suit. While the health of staff and patrons drove the decision, he said there’s also another element of business strategy involved with the decision. Even with some federal grant assistance that music venues have started to receive, he said Liberty Hall couldn’t withstand another year like the last one. Given that, it makes sense to take steps that would make it less likely that health officials would prohibit large gatherings again.

“We won’t continue to exist if we have to go through another shutdown,” Edington said.

Right now, there are signs that the business is bouncing back. He said Liberty Hall has about a dozen shows booked for the rest of the year, which he said was a pretty good pace even compared with before the pandemic.

“Liberty Hall is alive and well,” said Michael Wilson, the longtime janitor at the facility when I ran into him Thursday morning, “and we want it to stay that way.”